Aura Levels
by Proto-Saber
Summary: With days before the dance, a new invention is brought at Beacon. While some look at this chance with skepticism and others with eagerness, some are left surprised by the results. What happens afterwards is up for everyone to decide on their own. My take on some power levels in RWBY. One Shot.


**xxx**

The Aura Power Scanner.

They called it a revolutionary invention. One that promised to accurately gauge an individual's level so that teachers will become more aware on how to better conduct the training of their students and on what particular weaknesses they should focus. The premise of the device certainly sounded impressive, but when you're Weiss Schnee, you cannot help but possess that tiny amount of skepticism to anything that sounded too good to be true. One of the side effects of having grown as the heiress of the world's largest dust company.

From what she could find in her private research using every connection she could call upon using her family name, the device itself didn't tell much about the combat abilities of an individual, but rather focused on the strength their Aura was able to produce. A full analysis of an individual's Aura is conducted and a number is attributed to it, the higher the number, the stronger the Aura. It was this piece of information that left the white haired girl unimpressed by this new piece technology. Aura, while crucial, didn't represent the full extent of a Huntsman's abilities as in her belief there was more to a Huntsman than the raw power he or she possessed.

Still, that didn't prevent her from the latest order given by Beacon's school board asking all students to present themselves in one of the arenas to conduct this operation of having their Aura's measured. Nor did it prevent her slight irritation from rising by having to perform this task, which, as she had mentioned to her teammates, wasn't that important in her opinion. The timing too couldn't have been worse. There were only a few days left until the dance and there were still preparations that required her attention.

Of course, her complains were met with the amused response of her buxom, blonde haired teammate who had the gall to blame her current state of mind as well as her hesitation in partaking this examination on her fragile, princess like look, an obvious implication that she would not perform that well at this 'test'. It took a good deal of effort for Weiss to not lash out at that barbarian, but she decided that it was not worth it and instead settled for a small glare at the back of her head. The girl in question, Yang Xiao Long, was happily leading her team through the corridors of their Academy, a look of eagerness plastered on her face, a sign of her confidence in the examination that was to come.

Weiss released a small breath. Although vexing, there was some truth in the brawler's words. She had never been the strongest of fighters as with her slender frame and limited Aura resources she was more suited to a more fluid and dynamic fighting style which consisted of using her agility and speed to inflict a high number of accurate hits in a short amount of time. That didn't do much for her strength, endurance and stamina though as no matter how much she tried to compensate with her Dust and Semblance, her weaknesses were still present. She was always at the risk of collapsing first, her glyphs only speeding up the process as they required a continuous supply of her Aura in order to be cast.

"Are you okay?" A quiet inquiry was raised from her right. Blake Belladona had asked her, her unnatural yellow eyes examining her reaction with extreme precision.

"Yes." Weiss answered simply. "I still believe that the teachers are making more of this examination than they should and are putting too much emphasis on it. Do not concern yourself with me though. It's just my personal belief speaking here." She hoped that her answer would steer away any worry Blake might have.

"I can't believe you're not excited about this, Weiss!" Ruby's voice piqued from her left, the disbelief coming through clear. "It'll be like that show where bad they measured the powers of the good guys and when they thought they had it in the bag, the good guys would release their powers and break the devices of the bad guys leaving them all surprised!" Using her hands for emphasis, Ruby cheerfully described some of her childhood memories.

The black and white duo of team RWBY said nothing, having learned not to indulge their leader in some of her more childish beliefs lest they wish to hear her talk nonsense for a good period of time afterwards.

"Don't bother with her, Ruby." Yang turned her head slightly to gaze at her team without stopping from her walk. "Weiss Cream is just too scared to find out that she's not as hot as she thinks she is." Another jab at her weakness, but the white haired girl didn't respond to the bait this time either.

"Yang..." Ruby scolded lightly looking at her sister with disproval, unhappy with her actions. In response, Yang just chuckled and resumed her previous leading march with the same assurance as before.

They walked in silence for the rest of the five minutes it took to arrive at their designated location. Upon entering the large area, they were welcomed with the sight consisting of Beacon's entire student body count, which was nearly enough to suffocate those who were less attuned to social gatherings. Such as one Ruby Rose, who shifted just that tiny bit closer to her sister with an unsure expression.

For her part, Weiss was not bothered by the abundance of people. Rather, the large number of participants told her that they would be stuck here for a while, much to her displeasure. As her eyes scanned the room, her expression landed on a familiar shade of red belonging to Mistral's Four times Champion, Pyrrha Nikos. Even in such a large crowd, the girl stood out with a presence befitting that of a true warrior, a feat made more obvious when you took into consideration her partner, the dunce by the name of Jaune Arc.

She felt a frown come up her face as she observed the blonde haired youth look so out of place at the gathering. Even to this day she did not comprehend how he managed to become a leader of a team with his current skillset, which was appalling in her opinion. Normally, that wouldn't be any of her business, but Jaune had been pestering her with date proposals for the better part of a few weeks and that made her see him in a less than favorable view.

It seems that Weiss the only one who noticed their sister team as Yang called them over. Soon enough team JNPR had joined them and tried making some small talk to pass the time.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Jaune offered a small hand wave as he tried to push through his apprehension with a smile. It looked forced to anyone who bothered to look more closely, but they didn't say anything.

"Not much. Just came to check out how awesome we are." Yang grinned in enthusiasm, flexing her arm in emphasis. "Well, some of us at least." She added afterwards, once again hinting at Weiss' reluctance.

"So what about you guys? You ready for this test?" Ruby came through with her own question, a bit more comfortable in the presence of her friends. Eyeing every member of team JNPR, she awaited their response.

As leader, Jaune tried answering for his team. "Yeah, I guess we are. It sounds pretty simple and the results themselves don't really matter all that much." As soon as those words left his mouth, team RWBY looked at him in confusion. Sensing their silent question through their gaze, he took a small gulp before expanding on his belief. "I mean, even if we get a low score it doesn't mean that we'll fail or are gonna drop out or something." He finished unsurely feeling some of his earlier nervousness return.

"Don't worry, Jaune. It'll be fine, you have nothing to worry about." Pyrrha comforted him by placing a hand on his shoulder and squeezing it slightly. When their eyes met, she offered a smile and a nod which he returned reluctantly. Before heading out, Jaune was in a bit of a panic, something which prompted her to take him out speak privately where he revealed he was worried that someone might find out about him lying his way into the Academy.

Unaware of the silent exchange between partners, Weiss was a bit surprised that Jaune had managed to arrive to that conclusion by himself. Moments later she mentally dismissed his achievement as nothing more than a fluke.

Soon enough, students were being called to have the operation in question be performed on them. The procedure worked by having their Aura scanned and then a slip of paper would be handed to them with the value of their Aura's strength. They were private between students as only teachers will have full access to everyone's scores. But this being a school, it wouldn't be long before the majority of them will be found out by other students as there were people who would use this opportunity to boast about their strength. A bunch of braggarts in Weiss' opinion.

That said, they did provide a bit of insight on the values the machine gave. It seemed that the majority of them got somewhere between 5000 and 7000 so that was assumed to be the average for a student. What remained now was for them to take this test and see how well they did.

After what seemed like a pretty long time, team RWBY was called to the front. The operation itself wasn't as advanced as some students expected. They would simply strap a band with a wire at your wrist and would measure the output of Aura using a stimulus given by the machine. The procedure was painless as Weiss felt nothing throughout the time it took the device to have her Aura analyzed. Once done, they were given their papers and were told that they were free to go. At their dismissal, team RWBY returned to the spot where they left JNPR, but were unable to exchange many opinions as they were the next team to be called.

Finding themselves alone, it was perhaps a good time to share the results with each other.

"So, I'll go first." Ruby proposed as she believed it was fair with her being the leader an all. As she fumbled with the piece of paper, the other 3 could sense her apprehension as well as a bit of excitement emanate from her being. It seemed that her curiosity was strong enough to overpower her fear. "I got 6000." She announced as she turned to her team and waited for their opinion.

"That's pretty good, Ruby." Her sister nodded in approval with a smile plastered on her face. "You're younger than most people here and you're pretty much on par with the majority. Good job." With that she wrapped an arm around the red themed girl in a small hug, making sure to rub her head slightly knowing that'll embarrass the girl.

"Yang!" Came the small whine from Ruby who was acting less like the leader of team RWBY and more like the little sister of Yang Xiao Long. Still, despite the flushed expression she was perhaps making now, she was relieved that she did well. Blake nodded in support offering the tiniest of smiles and Weiss said nothing as she observed the exchange. Of course, considering that it was Weiss, the fact that she had not complained was as good as accepting the result. Or at least that's what Ruby reasoned.

As soon as the commotion died down a bit, Weiss took that moment to speak. "If we're going to do this in an order, I propose we do it following our team name order. I shall go next." With her opinion made public and hearing no complain, the girl began unfolding her piece of paper before her eyes examined the content. Brow furrowing ever so slightly, she put the material away and addressed her team again. "5800." She said simply, her voice betraying no emotion or what she felt of this value.

"Huh, that's not bad." Yang nodded appreciatively before giving her a very familiar look. "Still, you're within the range of normal people, Weiss." While not an insult it didn't necessarily made the heiress feel better.

When Blake's turn came, she said that it was 6500 and nothing else. Her teammates just nodded as it was a value within the average.

Then came Yang's turn and as per expectations, the girl made sure to make a bit of a scene by appearing extremely confident with her results. "Let's see here what mama Yang got." She said to herself while unfolding the paper as her team just sweat dropped at her choice of words. _"Mama Yang?"_ They all shared the same confused thought.

Once unraveled, the blonde gave the paper a quick look before grinning cheerfully. "Anyone want to guess how much I got?" Crumbling the paper in her hand and waited for the first one to propose a number.

"We're not here to play games, Yang. If you're going to tell us what you got then do so without any pointless shenanigans." Weiss retorted as she wrapped her arms at her chest, clearly in no mood for jokes from what the others could gather.

This caused Yang to lose her enthusiasm and drop to a more neutral expression. "Always there to ruin the fun, eh Ice Queen?" She mumbled to herself not caring if the other girl heard her anyway, before she composed herself and showed her teammates the paper. "I got 8800." She shared the knowledge and felt a bit of her mirth return at the shocked expressions that suddenly met her gaze.

"Wow! Yang, that's incredible!" Ruby beamed at her sister with her big silver orbs, almost jumping around in joy at the news. The sight almost made the blonde pull her sister in a bear hug, but she restrained herself. Ah, the hardships of having such a cute little sister.

"It is impressive." Blake agreed as she congratulated her partner.

The only one who hasn't said anything was Weiss, something which Yang had noticed. "What's wrong, Weiss? Got nothing to say?" Yang asked, but to the other 2 members it looked like she was taunting the white haired girl, who appeared as stern and rigid as ever.

" _As immature as ever."_ Weiss summed her attempt at a provocation. That thought aside, her response would determine whether or not this altercation will escalade to something more or she can diffuse this entire situation with a carefully worded response. As she was in no mood to continue this otherwise pointless banter, she decided for the latter.

"What's there to say?" Weiss responded with a huff. "Out of all of us you are the most proficient when it comes to close quarters and unarmed combat. Plus, you've proven time and time again that you have the most physical strength out of all of us along with the best endurance. When you take all of that into consideration and then add up your Semblance, then anything less than what you got at the test would be disappointing."

As she expected, her response left the other 3 girls looking at her in bewilderment. "Wait, time out!" Yang called out as she waved her hands. Weiss made no move to interrupt her. "Didn't you say earlier that you believed this thing was a load of bogus?" This was weird. In her own roundabout way, Weiss had complimented her. She had to make sure she heard that right.

Rolling her eyes at the question, Weiss answered. "What I've said was that in my belief, this machine does not give an accurate description of a Huntsman's or Huntresses' true strength. For what it was designed to be, a device that measures our Aura level, it performs up to par with what's expected of it." Releasing another tired breath, the heiress was beginning to get exhausted of having to explain the same thing again.

For a good few moments no one said anything. That gave ample time for Weiss to digest the result of this examination. She had expected to perform at the level she has. However, it still stung that she, a Schnee, ended up being on the same level as an average student. As much as she didn't want to appear bothered, the fact that she scored the lowest of her team, even lower than Ruby, albeit not by much, would remain on her mind for a while. After all the training and sweat she put into developing her abilities, it would be her own Aura that would come short of her expectations.

This reminded her of a particular conversation she had with her sister, Winter, back when she first awakened her Semblance. During those days she could only maintain her glyphs for a few minutes before she would fall in exhaustion. Fed up with that, she had decided to ask her sister for advice and what she got was not what she expected or wanted to hear. In short, the most she could do was to improve her control of the glyphs and have them use as little Aura as possible. There were no other ways to strengthen ones Aura, not without drugs that could potentially cripple her for life. As an afterthought, her sister had added that she could help out the future generations by marrying someone with high levels of Aura. Of course, back then such thoughts were of no use to her.

The silence was shattered by an announcement courtesy of their leader. "Hey, look! Jaune and the others are back!"

Breaking her current train of thought, Weiss shifter her gaze and true enough, team JNPR were returning as well. And just as quickly, her own team went to greet them.

"How did it go?" Yang was the first to ask, though judging from her face she didn't expect to hear anything outrageous.

"It was boring!" The loud wail was heard by everyone and it was easy to guess that its source was none other than Nora Valkyrie, a girl who, much to her horror, had even more energy than Ruby. A feat Weiss had never thought possible, but the orange haired girl was the living embodiment of that impossibility. "They kept us waiting for so long and I thought that once our turn would come, they'd put us through some really advanced wires, scan our entire brains and find our source of power hidden inside our souls and would awaken it to give us more powers! But no, instead, we waited for hours, then they strapped us with a single wire for a few seconds and it was all over! All that waiting and boredom! We didn't even get snacks! Can you believe them?" The girl was throwing off complains as she reiterated the events that had transpired and her disappointment with how they were performed.

"Nora, calm down." Ren's calm voice broke through her ongoing barrage of nonsensical gibberish. "The examination is over, we have time to get pancakes now." As if pressing a button, the energetic girl stopped from her ramblings and was in front of the boy.

"Roger that!" Nora saluted enthusiastically with a hand raised to her forehead. Then, as if struck by lightning, she began scratching her head. "Wait, weren't we supposed to do something here?" She asked in confusion. Apparently, in her excitement over the syrupy dish, the girl had forgotten all about the results of the examination. Fortunately for her, her teammates were quick to intervene.

"We were supposed to share the results we got." Pyrrha supplied from her spot next to Jaune, who appeared just as nervous as he was before being called. In his hand rested the piece of paper given to him and judging by his expression, he had yet to find out its contents.

It was then when team RWBY's leader intervened. "Hey, if it's not too much to ask, can we see your results as well? Of course, we'll show you ours as well." Ruby asked curiously, unaware on the slight implication behind her wording. Everyone chose to ignore it and Yang only settled for snickering in her palm.

Offering the younger girl her signature smile, Pyrrha nodded. "Of course, I have no problem with that." And neither did the rest of her team as they all agreed, though on Jaune's part it was apprehensively.

To be fair with their request, team RWBY divulged their results first and as expected, the embers of team JNPR were quick to congratulate them, Yang especially for having the scored the biggest value. The blonde took all the praise with mock modesty which prompted a small round of laughter.

With that out of the way, it was team JNPR's turn to reveal their scores and, surprisingly, the first to reveal their result was Ren. Having already opened his paper, he briefly glanced at the content before raising his face. "5100." He informed. On the lower scale of the spectrum as far as averages went, though it did explain his lack of stamina after prolonged combat. His friends nodded at that.

"Would it be alright if I went next?" Pyrrha inquired as she looked between her friends for any signs of refusal. She got none which prompted her to open her own piece of paper. A small part of her couldn't help but be curious to see how she performed. It was odd for her to feel a small tinge of excitement over a simple result of a test. Perhaps it was her competitive side coming through. "My score is 8000." She announced.

"Heh, not bad there, P-Money." Yang congratulated as she pulled a surprised Pyrrha in a one armed embrace. Her surprise subsided quickly enough and thanked the blonde. The others soon followed with their own praises. Observing the exchange from the side, Weiss couldn't help but be unsurprised by the champion's result. Pyrrha truly was the best student at Beacon, she admitted. She possessed a strong Aura, had top marks in all classes, aced most of their combat sessions and possessed a level head during critical moments. If anything, the only weakness Weiss could attribute to her was her own desire to hold back. Still, it didn't fill Weiss with comfort when she took into account her own Aura score and her goal of becoming the best, which meant surpassing Pyrrha Nikos herself.

"Oh, me next, me next!" Nora began jumping around as a sudden wave of excitement hit her. No one said anything as they all waited to hear her results. Unfolding her paper with a surprising amount of gentleness, the small orange haired girl examined the content while humming to herself. "Oh! Ren, Ren, look!" She jumped next to her childhood friend, flailing the piece of paper in his face. "I got 8500! That's good, right?"

"Yes, Nora. It is." In contrast with the exuberance of the girl, Ren's answer was as calm as ever, but a small, proud smile was present on his face. It was an impressive result and while Weiss wondered how all that Aura could fit inside her small body, it should have been obvious given the amount of energy she usually displayed. And no, she was in no way jealous on a random girl for having more Aura than her, a Schnee… Well, perhaps a little.

With the N of JNPR out of the way, all that remained was Jaune. "So, I guess it's my turn, hehe." He chuckled nervously as everyone's eyes turned to him making him feel even more nervous. Fumbling with the piece of paper for a few moments, he swallowed numbly as he prepared to open it, only to pause midway.

Sensing his distress, Pyrha approached him and offered the best encouraging words she could muster. "Jaune, don't worry. Whatever results you get it won't affect your life at Beacon. Think of it as another part of a medical examination, one that'll help the teachers and the staff at Beacon how to nurture your potential better." It was working. Her words were sinking in and were managing to calm Jaune down, at least to the point where he won't appear as panicked as before. "Although I'll doubt you'll get a bad result, no one here will think any less of you if it turns out like that." She ended with that promise.

"Yeah, come on, Vomit Boy. You're keeping us at the edge of our seats." Yang joked casually in an attempt to ease his nerves as well as her own curiosity. The heiress almost rolled her eyes at the display. It was almost like babying a 6 foot child who was too scared to fend for himself. And Ruby thought she was wrong to question his credentials of being at Beacon? It was getting too exhausting for her.

"Okay. Thanks, Pyrrha." He smiled appreciatively at his partner. Taking a deep breath, he returned to his paper, this time managing to muster the confidence to open it. His eyes traced what was written there and widened at what he saw. The rest were waiting for him to divulge his results. However, once again he was pausing from his task.

Looking up, he addressed the group. "Uhm, I think there's been a mistake." He informed them as he shifted the position of the paper in hopes of getting a better view. But to no avail. "There's no way this result belongs to me." He was about to suggest his team to check up with a teacher, but he let out a yelp as he felt a weight land on his back. "Nora!" He yelled in surprise, already knowing who it was that intruded his personal space.

"What do you mean, fearless leader? Let me see, let me see!" The bubbly girl danced on his body, before she rested her chin on his shoulder, cheeks touching as she looked at his paper. Once she saw the content, her eyes became as wide as Jaune's were moments back, before being filled with a shining gleam. "Wow, fearless leader! You really are awesome!" With those words, she wrapped her arms around his neck in an awkward, yet powerful bear hug from behind. It was suddenly a lot harder for Jaune to breathe.

This action caught Yang's attention as her curiosity grew hearing Nora's words. "Oh, let's see what old Vomit Boy's got then." With that, she approached him and took the piece of paper. As soon as she saw what was written there and as soon as the content registered in her brain, her mouth dropped and turned to look at Jaune with and incredulous look. "Whoa, have you been holding out on us, lady killer?" She questioned her fellow blonde as one of her hands went up his torso and began poking his chest. "Do you have some secret, super Semblance that we're not aware of? Cause if you do consider me interested." She teased and gave him one of her cheerful grins. Her intense gaze made the boy's face flush. Damn Yang and her gorgeous looks…

Their small moment was interrupted by the impatience of Ruby as she made her way to them and took the paper from Yang's hand. "Guys, come on! We want to know what Jaune's scor- 21000!?" She yelled out the contents of the paper for all to hear. Soon enough, all those within ear shot turned to the source and upon seeing the group began whispering amongst themselves.

Of course, the most obvious of reactions came from within his group. Ruby began jumping around him with beaming eyes, while Nora still held him in a death grip. Yang and Pyrrha were a bit back, one grinning at him while the other simply smiled at the moment. Further back, both Ren and Blake nodded in congratulations. And Weiss, she had not said anything and was too busy gawking at him.

"Guys, not so loud!" Jaune implored them as he tried in vain to shush the noisiest of his friends. Even the weight of the girl on his back was forgotten in the favor of averting everyone's attention from him. "Look, it has to be some kind of mistake. There's no way this can be true. I'm sure that if I'll talk to a teacher and ask to have this redone they'll agree once I tell them what's going on."

But before he could do anything, his partner intervened. "And why do you think it's impossible for this result to be untrue?" She asked him, looking directly into his eyes making him hesitate. He made a move to reply, but nothing came out. Pyrrha took that as her sign to continue. "Jaune, do you remember what I told you when we partnered up?"

Puzzled by her question, the blond tried to recount the events of that had transpire on that faithful day. He remembered her explaining all that she knew about Aura, unlocking his own and then… Oh. "You told me that I have a lot of Aura." He responded simply.

Pyrrha confirmed his word by nodding. "Yes, from the beginning both you and I knew you possessed a great amount. Is it that unbelievable to believe now that a number has been attributed to it?" Stepping a bit closer, she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder again and offered a proud smile. "Remember Jaune, Aura is a Huntsman's most precious ally. Only by learning to truly harness its power will you be able to reach your full potential. Now you know what that limit is. Are you ready to take the next step?"

It was the same as their spars on the rooftop, he figured. A new goal to be achieved by pushing himself forward. In a rare display of confidence, his posture straightened, despite having a girl on his back, and looked his partner in the eye. "Bring it." He smirked at the challenge.

"You know, if you looked like that more often then I might get really interested in you." Jumping slightly at the voice, Jaune turned to the source of it and found Yang giving him a teasing grin before chuckling at his expression. "Oh, back to normal already? Shame." With those words, she approached him and stopped in front of him, her lilac eyes dancing on his form up and down making him uncomfortable under her gaze. Eventually, she chuckled again and gave him a light punch in the shoulder, making him yelp a bit. "Keep this up, lady killer. There might be hope for you yet." Those were her parting words as she retreated as soon as they left her mouth.

Taking that as their cue, both teams began leaving, with Jaune telling his team that they were finished and should retreat to their quarters, though not before asking Pyrrha if they could start training early that day. His partner was delighted by his sudden eagerness and wouldn't refuse him even if she was as sick as a dog. Mirroring his actions, Ruby gave the same order to which both her sister and Blake nodded.

Weiss, on the other hand…

" _This… this has to be some kind of mistake."_ Weiss unconsciously repeated Jaune's words from earlier, but she was too lost on the latest piece of information to notice. What was more important was the impossibility which stood mere feet away from her moments ago and was currently distancing himself. She refused to believe it, she refused to believe that bumbling dunce had 4 times her Aura capacity. It simply couldn't be. But, Pyrrha herself seemed confident in the validity of this result and if his own partner didn't know him best, then who did?

"Weiss! Come on!" The call of her partner snapped her out of thoughts. With a few quick looks, she noticed that everyone left. Gazing in front, she saw her team looking in her direction and waiting for her. A bit futher, she saw the backs of each member of team JNPR as they retreated. She then saw his back, standing taller than all of his teammates. Like a delayed playback, what transpired after Ruby yelled the final score registered in her mind. All the way from Pyrrha's words, Jaune's sudden burst of confidence and the announcement of their leaders to return to their rooms. She felt a bit of heat in her cheeks as she processed everything, her mind freezing ever so slightly on Jaune's smile.

With a quick shake of her head, she hurried their way. As she caught up to her team, she remembered Winter's last piece of advice. Maybe… maybe she could try talking to him more. If only to see whether or not he was the type of boy she assumed he was or if she had somehow made a wrong judgment call and was too quick to consider him no different than those boys who were after her only because of her family name. After all, Pyrrha Nikos took an interest in him and Ruby did speak highly of him from time to time.

 **xxx**

 **End**

AN: A random idea given life. I'm not really sure if there was any purpose behind this story other than me suddenly opening Word and playing with this idea of power levels in RWBY.

Some characters are OOC as I'm sure you have noticed, but I hope that since this story was meant to be funny no one was too bothered by this. Speaking of things that bother people. Yes, I made Jaune have the strongest Aura because I thought it would be fun. He has a large amount of Aura, but is still the weakest fighter.

Regardless, I hope you enjoyed it.


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